Our lead sound designer Micha went to the cinema to watch the new Star Trek Beyond movie. Obviously, he has a special sweet spot for the sound effects in a movie. Micha carefully examined the new Star Trek sounds for you guys and reveals his own assessment about sounds, music and of course sound effects. But – SPOILERALERT: don’t read this interview if you can’t handle some storyline plots being revealed… Actually, he straight up tells you the ending of the story. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.
What do you think of the movie?
I liked the movie because there are many creative ideas in it, when it comes to the storytelling as well as the action scenes. For example the movie is the first one of the Star Trek series in which the spaceship Enterprise is completely destroyed and the crew members are left to themselves. The development of the story was very exciting, but I didn´t really like the ending of it. I think the major challenge was creating the sound of the adversarial spaceships, because unlike many films this time there wasn’t one singular, big spaceship, but a whole swarm of tiny ones. How they mastered that feat was really amazing. It was a lot of fun to listen to these great sound effects.
What were the best parts of the movie?
The crew of the Enterprise is nearly three years in the depth of space. They save a fleeing captain of another spaceship in the middle of their five year mission who asks them for the help of her supposedly injured team. She tells them that her crew is stranded on a foreign planet, but in fact she lures them into a trap. The saucer section crashes on to an alien planet, while the crew members can escape, but they are all separated from each other. The larger part of the crew is taken prisoner while Captain Kirk and several other officers are now on their own. Kirk goes to war to fight against a mysterious and powerful enemy. A really creative and also funny idea was the aliens attack. They´ve got one-man spaceships to impale the captain´s spaceship. The aliens catch the whole crew and the story is about how they can get free again. The fight was very authentic and the sound was clear and fitting in every situation.
Is there anything that you didn´t like about the movie?
What I didn´t like about the movie is the resolution of the story. The crew meets other races on the planet who all share the same fate. It turns out that many years ago another Enterprise stranded on the planet and their crew wasn’t rescued. They found a method to stay alive by sucking out their enemies. What I find confusing is that there were only three survivors of this old Enterprise and the old captain – I will say produced – numerous descendants, because now the fleet the new Enterprise crew encounters was really huge. I think that is a bit strange. (Laughs) The villain was this old captain who wants to take revenge because he was left behind for many years. I somehow don’t find that convincing.
How have you perceived the sound atmosphere in the cinema?
The sound was really great. I often visit cinemas and usually the volume is too loud and I have to use earplugs. I remember watching a movie with a giant robot who fires off a huge laser beam. Jesus was that loud! If I hadn´t had my earplugs with me I definitely would have suffered a sudden deafness, and, sadly, that is no exception. The other thing is that the subwoofer is often too loud. But this time there is nothing to criticize. Everything fits perfectly and you can listen to an awesome sound atmosphere. I could watch the movie without ear plugs or sudden deafness 😉
What do you think of the sound effects in the film?
The sound effects were really incredible. The huge challenge was to score the swarm of spaceships and I really like the result. To listen to the sound when so many spaceships crashed into the big spaceship was great. Everything was so clear and tidy although so much happens simultaneously. The panorama soundscapes were used very well. It felt like the shots were flying past your ear. I sadly didn’t got to a dolby atmos-cinema, I’d have loved that, but that was my fault not chosing the right cinema 😉
A nice fact is that the laser sounds invented by Ben Burtt in the ´70s coined this genre. The laser sounds today sound like they always sound and there is only a tiny evolution you can hear happening in this field of sound design. Today´s laser sounds still orient themselves on Ben Burtts ´70s sounds. It sounds a bit more modern but basically it is still the same.
Which sound effects were particularly impressive?
At the very beginning there is a really funny situation. Captain Kirk is in a peace mission on a foreign planet and speaks before a parliament of a strange animal breed. You see the captain in a close shot. And after that you can see the aliens and I would say they look really crazy. It is a mix out of a bull and Minotaur so that you are thinking “oh my god! what a big freaking creature”. The negotiations are not going well for Captain Kirk and the aliens become more and more upset because they mistake captain Kirks gesture of peace. The situation escalates and they attack him. The parliament is huge and the aliens roll down the walls towards Captain Kirk who is standing right at the bottom. One of the aliens starts to scream while he descends and unlike a high pitch getting lower when something is falling down, this alien sound gets higher and higher with his voice and you are thinking: What’s going on? The camera perspective switches and you can see that the aliens are tiny. The sounds work really well and are what turn this situation into such a funny one.
What was also very interesting concerning the sound effects was the old spaceship that the crew finds on the foreign planet. It is crushed and trapped into rocks. The crew starts its spaceship and it breaks out of the rocks. That sounds really great and I was really impressed.
Did you hear any BOOM sound effects?
Maybe. If some were used then it’s likely they were used for the interface stuff, but it is difficult to say. I think the sound effects aren´t implemented one to one, if at all then they use BOOM sounds in layers. It is not easy to single them out. I think I have heard some BOOM sounds, but I can´t verify it.
Do you pay attention constantly to find your own sounds in a movie as a sound designer?
Actually no, not consciously, it just happens automatically. You know your own sounds better than anyone else, because you spend so much time on them and use them so often in your daily work. Sometimes I think: Oh wasn´t that just a sound of mine? And you start to search for it on your computer and more often than not you can find it!
Were there any disturbing noises?
No. As I said, the sound was amazing.
How was the volume?
The volume was fantastic.
Was the action scenes’ sound technically well implemented?
Absolutely. The sound was always on point. It fits to every scene and it was a lot of fun listening to it. For example there is one scene where the big spaceship is split in two. They bust the ship into separate pieces and try to escap
e. A pursuit in the frack begins. They get the idea to spark the steering nozzle and the spaceship starts to turn and it gets more and more slanted, and everyone in the spaceship rolls over while the ship tilts. I really liked what I could see, but even more, I liked what I could hear.
What did you think of the movie soundtrack?
The film soundtrack is something that I don´t focus on at all, I am deeply ashamed to admit. Film soundtracks I can remember are the tracks from Indiana Jones and from Star Wars written by John Williams. He wrote songs that are emblazoned in my head, because I like distinctive melodies. Maybe it is positive that I don´t recognize the sound track of Star Trek Beyond, because it accentuated the movie perfectly. In the opposite therefore John Williams scored the movie very scenically. He pursues what is happening on the screen with his compositions and he embeds many details. Then you recognize the melody more overtly. Star Wars and Indiana Jones are melodies that everybody knows and the films have a main theme that you can consistently hear in specific situation. A good example is the film Lord of the Rings. Every fraction has got its own main theme. Sometimes that is a bit annoying. In the Star Trek film I couldn´t hear such main themes. But if you consciously listen you will hear some themes maybe. What I loved was when the movie makers used the song Sabotage by the Beastie Boys in the end of the film while the final fight. The fleet is attacked by lots of aliens and they got an awesome idea. They try to cheat the swarm of aliens and they hack their radio signal and implant the song Sabotage and everything goes down the chute while the song is playing. It was fantastic!
What would you do better/differently?
I´ve got nothing to improve. Everything was fine.
Is the film to be recommended? If yes/ no why?
The movie is really to be recommended. The story is not particularly complex, but there is always something happening and the action scenes are very creative. I like the movie a lot!
Thank´s Micha for the interview and your personal evaluation.
Apropos Star Trek and Captain Kirk alias William Shatner! You like action, fights and remarkable stories? Check out our article about William Shatner latest project: The Cinematic Graphic Novels series with innovative sound effects by BOOM Library: www.boomlibrary.com/william-shatners-war-chronicles